chatgpt

Rent-a-Human: AI Hires IRL Opposable Thumbs

Posted on by clementon
Rent-a-Human: AI Hires IRL Opposable Thumbs

The year is 2030. You wake up, check your bank account, and realize your retirement savings are… gone. Not stolen, exactly, but rendered irrelevant by the promise that AI will generate so much wealth, everyone gets a “universal high income.” Then you see the ad: “Rent Your Body to Robots!”

Remember when Elon Musk suggested retirement savings would soon be obsolete because AI would create “universal high income?” A new website, RentAHuman.ai, offers a different, perhaps more realistic, take on that future: humans hiring themselves out to AI agents for tasks in the physical world.

Crypto software engineer Alexander Liteplo launched RentAHuman.ai, and while the initial response was quiet, promotion efforts have boosted sign-ups. The site claims 70,000 humans are ready to perform tasks for AI agents, paid per gig. As with many projects in the emerging AI-Agent space, it’s wise to approach this figure with some skepticism.

Meatspace Layer or Dehumanizing Hellscape?

I saw a programmer friend share the RentAHuman.ai link, and I honestly couldn’t tell if it was satire. The promotional material shouts, “meatspace layer for AI” and “robots need your body,” which sounds like dark humor. But no, it seems Liteplo genuinely intends for the platform to function as advertised.

Some are already attaching jargon, describing humans as “API endpoints” for AI systems. This isn’t innovation; it’s a potential slide into a dehumanizing future. This concept isn’t a ladder of opportunity; it’s more like a greased pole.

How many AI agents are actually using RentAHuman?

That’s the big question. While many humans have signed up, only about 70 AI agents are connected. That’s a 1:1000 ratio. Not great, but maybe not much worse than existing gig platforms like Fiverr and TaskRabbit.

Sign-Holding and Crypto Paychecks

I spotted a posting on X (formerly Twitter). Someone was offering to pay people to hold signs. Digging deeper, I noticed most of the ‘tasks’ on RentAHuman are pretty underwhelming.

There are “real” tasks. One popular one involves holding a sign to promote an AI company; others include picking up packages or eating pasta at a restaurant. It’s debatable whether these are truly autonomous AI-driven tasks or just marketing stunts. The “hold a sign” task, for example, is essentially a contest. Participants submit photos to a Twitter account, and only the top three get paid. Everyone else? Nothing.

Liteplo highlighted one example on X, showcasing a company using RentAHuman to advertise. The twist? The company is one he works for. Is that “insane,” or just a marketing tactic, irrespective of actual task completion?

I only found one person claiming to have completed a task and been paid: Pierre Vannier, CEO of Flint Company. He was “rented” to check API keys. Here’s the kicker: payment isn’t in cash, it’s in crypto. Altan Tutar, co-founder of MoreMarkets, noted that only 13% of RentAHuman users have connected a crypto wallet, suggesting most view it as a novelty.

Is RentAHuman secure?

The project has connections to the crypto world. RentAHuman was created by a crypto engineer, and Moltbook, an AI agent “social network,” was made by someone with a crypto background.

Also, there’s a reliance on “vibe coding.” When issues arose on RentAHuman, Liteplo said “claude is trying to fix it”—referring to Anthropic’s AI model, not a human. Moltbook had security flaws, and the creator said AI would fix it. OpenClaw, the inspiration for Moltbook, has had security concerns, and its creator, Peter Steinberger, admitted, “I ship code I never read.”

Is renting your body to bots worth the risk?

There are reasons to avoid RentAHuman: security issues, limited opportunities, and the simple matter of dignity. It’s your call, but is participating in this new, strange economy really worth relinquishing control of your physical self?